Dan Barry went out in search of the John Birch Society of today, and he found it! Birchers are everywhere, much like the evildoers they oppose.

Birch leaders say this plot is real, with roots going back more than 200 years to a secret, insidious brotherhood called the Illuminati, and with most American presidents among its many dupes and abettors.

"We've always referred to it as a Satanic conspiracy," said Arthur Thompson, the society's chief executive, sitting beside an American flag.

The key to the Society's continued survival? Its diversity:

He said the John Birch Society has Jewish and black members and has never tolerated anti-Semitism or racism, notwithstanding its notorious opposition to much of the civil rights movement.

At a street fair in New Jersey, even the youth have had their eyes opened:

The coordinator was Chris Nowak, 24, a substitute math teacher who said he joined after his father, a longtime Bircher, re-educated him about American history; for example, he now understood that the United Nations was founded by President Harry S. Truman "and other communists."